FEATURE Robotics
Robotics and automation at the farm
Agriculture is facing unprecedented challenges, which requires technology-driven solutions, write technical staff at VNC Automotive
M
odern tractors are bristling with more processing power than it took to fl y to the moon – they are now so
advanced that much of the groundwork required to enable autonomy has already been laid.
Recent, farming TV programmes have lifted the lid on the challenges they are facing, and there’s a dawning realisation that our farmers could use some help. “Farming, to most people, is something that happens on the other side of a hedgerow,” said Tom Blackie, founder and CEO of VNC Automotive. “The reality is the journey from seed to supermarket is a long and arduous one. Further demands to increase productivity and work in more environmentally-sustainable ways are going to make it even more challenging. We believe autonomy is key here.” As providers of the technology that has connected hundreds of thousands of tractors globally, VNC Automotive is a crucial part of the increasingly technological direction the agricultural sector must take.
Autonomy in the fields
Automation in the agricultural sector is nothing new. GPS-enabled automated steering systems, such as John Deere’s AutoTrac, have been guiding tractors and self-propelled farm machinery for almost 20 years. Their ability to follow the same optimised paths through a crop reduces plant and pesticide damage and increases yields.
“These systems have come a long way since their inception two decades ago, and now off er accuracy down to just a couple of centimetres. Their widespread adoption across the globe means they’ve earnt the trust of farmers everywhere, and today more than 70% of the crop acreage in North America is farmed using these systems. In Australia it’s more than 90%,” said Blackie. Systems such as Implement Automation allow towed machinery to communicate
14 December/January 2022 | Automation
[Image: Red Zeppelin for Unsplash]
with the tractor, with a baler automatically stopping it when it’s time to wrap and unload. A machine sync, for example, allows a combine harvester to control a fi eld full of tractors to co-ordinate unloading, even precisely positioning tractors to achieve optimal load distribution. Recent developments in machine learning and vision systems have led to technologies such as See & Spray, the ability to automatically distinguish between weeds and cultivated plants so that each can be individually treated with either a targeted pesticide or fertiliser. Known as Precision Agriculture, rather than farming a fi eld as a single unit, this approach allows decisions to be made about individual plants. This isn’t just better for the crop, it’s also more cost- eff ective and better for the environment. Instead of spraying an entire fi eld with chemicals that risk running off into the waterways, precisely metered doses can now be delivered directly and only to the plants that need them.
Off the field and into the Cloud These approaches generate vast amounts of data, much of it stored in the Cloud. Once there, it can be analysed to support functionalities like mapping crop yields and soil conditions, to asign the best planting strategies. With most tractors already equipped with the hardware necessary for full self- driving, and a permanent data connection providing access to the computational safety net of Big Data and experience-based
decision-making, it’s a short step to full autonomy. “We’re already having these conversations with our clients,” said Blackie, “and recent acquisitions by some of the biggest players in the industry point to this happening sooner rather than later.” “While there’s understandable reticence
surrounding self-driving passenger cars, if a tractor gets lost in a fi eld it might end up in a ditch or a hedge, not driving the wrong way up the M1. Many of the challenges for autonomous cars stem from the need to map the precise location of every obstacle, some of which, particularly other cars, are constantly moving. But, in agriculture we already know where everything is, even down to the exact location of each individual plant.”
Intelligent machines can accompany farmers or deploy themselves, say in response to weather conditions, freeing up the farm owner to tend to other matters. In some areas of the country where a planting window might last only a few days, the ability to get the job done quickly and precisely can have a major impact on an entire year’s productivity. “Hundreds of thousands of connected machines out there collecting data means a tremendous amount of learning has already been done. Now it’s time to capitalise on that investment,” added Blackie.
CONTACT:
VNC Automotive
www.vncautomotive.com
automationmagazine.co.uk
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